Ghislain Lescuyer was appointed chairman of the management board of French battery and energy storage systems supplier Saft Group in March and started in May. He takes over from Bruno Dathis, group financial director, who has been chairman of the management board, since John Searle’s sudden death last September.

Lescuyer has been a member of Saft’s supervisory board for the last 10 years and chairman of its strategy and technologies committee. He is also a senior vice president of Alstom Group in charge of information systems and technology.

As part of this, Marie-Claire Daveu joined the supervisory board in early May replacing Lescuyer. Daveu was recommended by Saft’s remuneration and appointments committee, during a meeting held this March.

After a career as a senior civil servant in the field of agriculture and the environment, Daveu occupied the post of technical adviser to the cabinet of French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. She then became chief of staff to Serge Lepeltier, the minister of ecology and sustainable development in 2004.

Since 2012, she has been the chief sustainability officer and head of international institutional affairs of the Kering group.

The supervisory board now consists of five independent members: Yann Duchesne (chairman), Jean-Marc Daillance (vice-chairman), Bruno Angles, Charlotte Garnier-Peugeot and Marie-Claire Daveu.

Earlier this year, Saft’s management committee appointed Frédéric Hapiak as director of the committee’s energy storage unit. The management committee serves as a forum for discussing and for implementing Saft’s global strategy, says Saft

Hapiak is the general manager for Saft America and based in Florida. His previous work at Saft included being deputy general manager of the company’s industrial battery group and a director of global sales and marketing.